Discussions on Warner’s legal bill ongoing

Jack Warner. PHOTO BY ROGER JACOB.

Attorneys for former FIFA vice president Jack Warner and those for the State are still in discussions on the legal bill owed by the former minister, who lost his extradition challenge back in September.

A cost hearing came up before Justice James Aboud at the Hall of Justice in Port of Spain yesterday and was adjourned after attorneys said they were still in discussions on the issue. The judge also noted that Warner had appealed his ruling, in which he dismissed the former FIFA VP’s extradition challenge.

Warner is wanted in the United States on 12 charges related to racketeering, corruption and money-laundering, allegedly committed in the US and TT. He claimed the case against him is politically motivated and accused the US of seeking revenge because it lost to Qatar in its bid to host the 2022 World Cup. In September, Aboud dismissed a judicial review application filed by Warner, who challenged the procedure used by the Attorney General in agreeing to the US’s request for his extradition in May 2015, at the end of the US Department of Justice’s investigation into the world governing football body. Warner is out on bail and the extradition proceeding before acting Chief Magistrate Maria Busby Earle-Caddle has been adjourned to January 16, pending the hearing of the appeal.

On December 18, Warner’s attorneys will seek to have the extradition committal proceedings against him put on hold until he has an opportunity to appeal Aboud’s ruling.